I am not a pest," Ramona Quimby told her big sister Beezus.

I hope children will be happy with the books I've written, and go on to be readers all of their lives.

One rainy Sunday when I was in the third grade, I picked up a book to look at the pictures and discovered that even though I did not want to, I was reading. I have been a reader ever since.

With twins, reading aloud to them was the only chance I could get to sit down. I read them picture books until they were reading on their own.

If you don't see the book you want on the shelves, write it.

Quite often somebody will say, What year do your books take place? and the only answer I can give is, In childhood.

Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.

She was not a slowpoke grownup. She was a girl who could not wait. Life was so interesting she had to find out what happened next.

I didn't start out writing to give children hope, but I'm glad some of them found it.

Nothing in the whole world felt as good as being able to make something from a sudden idea.

I wanted to be a ballerina. I changed my mind.

If you want to know how old a woman is . . . ask her sister-in-law.

I'm pro-forwards. Do I want the Seventies to come back? No. The haircuts were terrible. Everyone stank. The food was awful.

Africa for the Africans... at home and abroad!

The story of a mother's life: Trapped between a scream and a hug.

I think whatever comes natural is probably the truth, and the truth is the strongest form of anything - whether serious or funny.

We have to confront the reality of our world, and make the hard decisions about which way we want to move forward.

Some truths should perhaps be left unsaid. Some doors unopened. An angel once told me to let go of the ills I held too close, to let go of the flaws that shaped me.

I love New York City. I love that I get to live there and I love everything about it.

The first move of leadership is learning to think for yourself.

Who says that my dreams have to just stay my dreams?